Be Sweet to Toddlers: Does Sugar Water Reduce Pain During Blood Work?

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2019-07-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether sugar water (24% sucrose) effectively reduces pain in children ages 12 to 36 months undergoing venipuncture, as measured by pain scores and cry duration.

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
• Treatments: Anesthetics

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children aged 12-36 months, inclusive

• Children who are patients at CHEO in the 4 East/West or 5 East wards (and overflow unit, when applicable), and the Medical Day Unit

• Children who require venipuncture for the purpose of medically required venous blood sampling

• With the exception of the age criteria, children who are eligible to receive sucrose as per the Sucrose CHEO policy for infants

• Children who have their venipuncture performed by hospital-employed phlebotomists or registered nurses (to ensure standardization of the blood collection procedure)

• Parents/guardians and children must also be able to understand English or French

Exclusion Criteria:

• Children who have received a muscle relaxant, opioid analgesic or sedative in the past 24 hours (to ensure there is no interaction effect of these medications which may impact on toddlers' ability to mount a behavioral response to pain)

• Children who are ineligible to receive sucrose as per the Sucrose CHEO policy

• Children who are already consuming sweet fluids or foods, or if the mother wishes to breast feed during the procedure will also be excluded

• Children with known or suspected fructose intolerance